1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the technologies of automated and preemptive service determination, brokering and scheduling for moving systems such as automobiles, trains, trucks, ships, and aircraft. The invention relates more particularly to systems for remotely providing enhanced and supplemental diagnostics, and subsequently performing enhanced materials and resource planning based upon such results.
2. Background of the Invention
Vehicles are traditionally designed and built with a finite set of gauges or indicator warning lights which are intended to convey vital operational status to the operator of the vehicle. For example, many automobiles are equipped with a temperature gauge or warning light, and an oil pressure gauge or warning light, on the dashboard. If a temperature gauge enters a range indicating higher than normal operating coolant temperature, the driver may choose to continue driving until a service station is reached. For indicator lights, often referred to as “dummy lights”, the light may be illuminated when the temperature has reached a critical point, leaving the driver with even fewer options (e.g. less time to find a service station). Most automobiles, however, are equipped many sensors in the engine, electrical, electronic, and drive train subsystems, which provide more information regarding the status of the engine. This detailed information, however, is not usually presented to the driver, but is maintained in memory by an on-board computer for later analysis by an automotive technician and/or diagnostic computer. During the operation of the vehicle, the on-board computer may simply determine if a sensor indicates a potential problem and decide to illuminate a warning light.
Most modern vehicles, including ships, aircraft, trains, trucks and cars, follow this convention of collecting a large amount of sensor and indicator data from the vehicle's subsystems, storing these data items in memory, and presenting simple, “high level” indicators to the vehicle operator (e.g. pilot, captain, etc.).
So, for example, when a driver sees an over-temperature indicator light or notices a temperature gauge in the “hot” range, he must make a fairly uninformed decision as to how to proceed. If he is driving on a highway, he must decide to “chance it” and continue driving until the next town or service center is reached in the hopes that an appropriately-equipped and staffed repair shop will be found. By doing so, he risks causing expensive damage to the vehicle's engine. If he chooses to take such a risk and upon arrival at the next town finds that no appropriately equipped or staffed shop is available, he may have to pay for a tow anyway, thereby finding that he incurred the risk of engine damage unnecessarily (e.g. he could have stopped on the roadside and called for a tow).
This particular problem has become even more pronounced as the automobile industry has diversified in recent years. Many consumers are purchasing vehicles which are made by manufacturers who have small portions of market share in the country where they reside, and thus there are fewer repair centers which are equipped with the diagnostic equipment for his or her particular make-and-model of vehicle and who have appropriately trained staff for the needed repair. In one example, a driver may have a car which cannot be serviced by any shop in the next town because it is manufactured by a company which does not have a dealer in town. In another example situation, a dealer for the driver's car may be in town, but the malfunction may be in a subsystem for which the dealer does not have a trained technician currently on staff or on call (e.g. a problem within the transmission but the dealer has no transmission technicians on staff). A third aspect of whether or not service can be obtained as needed is whether or not a service center has ready access to spare parts and replacement components, as may be required.
All travel is time dependent (e.g. there is an itinerary to be kept), whether it is a road trip in a car by a private consumer, a transoceanic shipment by ship or a scheduled airline flight, and as such, all of these factors must be met in a timely fashion to minimize the economic, social, and financial impact of a vehicle repair:                (a) availability of an appropriate business entity to provide the service (e.g. car repair shop, aircraft maintenance depot, etc.);        (b) availability of appropriately skilled service personnel;        (c) availability necessary facilities, tools and systems (e.g. diagnostic systems, repair tools, etc.); and        (d) availability of components and repair parts.        
In most cases, another factor of obtaining service is whether or not the price or cost of the service is acceptable to the operator of the vehicle. In some cases, such as having a car indicator illuminate while on a cross-country trip or visiting a city away from home, the driver may anticipate being charged an exorbitant amount for a routine repair, and as such, may decide not to seek service until returning to his or her home town, further increasing his or her risk for greater vehicle damage and possibly causing safety problems.
As a result, while ample diagnostic information to determine a needed service and replacement component is often collected by vehicle on-board computers and sensors, and while some operational time before arriving at a point of possible service is often available (e.g. driving time to next town, flight time to land at next airport, travel time to next train depot, etc.), this time is not wisely used to search for appropriate service providers and to negotiate for acceptable service cost. Normally, the operator of the vehicle will begin these processes after arriving at the next point of service, which may incur additional costs (e.g. overnight shipping of parts, hotel stays, rental vehicles, etc.) and may cause undesirable delays to the itinerary.
Many vehicle operators and vehicles are equipped with communications systems (e.g. radio, wireless telephones, etc.) which allow them to communicate to some degree their problem while in transit, and to attempt to set arrangements for service at the next point of service. However, this can be ineffective as it can be very difficult, for example, for a car driver to obtain quotes for parts and service while driving on a highway, especially because he or she is not privy to the detailed error codes stored in the on-board computer's memory thereby making an accurate diagnosis difficult.
Still other systems, such as General Motor's On Star [™] system, provides for triggering of communications such as a cell telephone to call to an operator when certain conditions are detected, such as deployment of an airbag. Generally, this only helps the driver get in contact with possible assistance, but does not relieve the driver of the mental distraction trying to describe a problem and to negotiate for a service action. Another potentially useful service are cellular-based concierge services, which allows a driver to call a single point of contact to initiate assistance such as scheduling a car maintenance appointment. These services, however, are more general purpose in nature (e.g. making hotel reservations, obtaining show tickets, etc.), and are of limited assistance with handling detailed vehicle trouble and maintenance discussions. In either of these cases, the on-board diagnostic information is neither available to the driver, the assisting telephone operator or concierge for accurate and precise planning of a maintenance service.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a system and method which utilizes the time available between the first time of detection of a potential problem on a mobile system or vehicle in transit and the time to arrival at a point of service to determine potential providers, obtain quotes from the service providers, select a provider and schedule the service action such that itinerary impact is minimized, safety and convenience to the vehicle operator is maximized, and exorbitant unexpected expenses are eliminated. The system and method disclosed in the related patent application addresses these need to a great degree.
However, most vehicles are provided with a finite set of diagnostic capabilities, based in part on the “hardware” installed on the vehicle such as the sensors and indicators available to the many subsystems, and based in part on the diagnostic firmware or software programmed into the vehicle's control computer and/or subsystems. As a result, to the extent that accurate and complete diagnosis of a vehicle problem can be made with the “resident” hardware and firmware, the system and method of the related patent application may accurately provide for anticipatory brokering and scheduling of service actions, including procurement of appropriate spare parts and scheduling of appropriately skilled service personnel.
In some cases, however, the resident diagnostic capabilities may not be sufficient to accurately or fully diagnose a vehicle failure. In such a case, a vehicle may arrive at the selected service center, and may be connected to a more powerful diagnostic testing system. At this point, the failure may be more accurately pinpointed, but in some cases, the needed part may not be in stock, or an appropriately skilled repair technician may not be on call. For example, assume that a vehicle is traveling on a highway when it experiences a failure in the fuel system. The on-board diagnostics may determine that it is likely a fuel pump problem, so the system and method of the related application would find an acceptable shop with the part and technician on hand at the estimated time of arrival, perhaps two hours in advance. Then, upon arrival at the selected repair shop, it is determined that the fuel pump on the vehicle is in fine working order, and that the problem is actually in a wiring harness which interconnects the vehicle's control computer to the fuel system sensors, thereby giving a false indication of a failed fuel pump. If the wiring harness is not currently in stock at this shop, or the technician who is qualified to make electrical and electronic repairs to the vehicle is not on duty, the vehicle operator may be faced with a tough decision to proceed traveling without a working fuel system diagnostic capability, or to wait for a technician and/or part to be procured. This may also leave the operator at a disadvantage for securing the best possible price for the service, as his or her car is now “in the shop” and may not be easily moved to another shop. Additionally, the two hours of travel time which has elapsed since the first detection of the failure has not been effectively utilized to secure prompt and cost-effective service for the vehicle.
In such a case, the vehicle operator is relegated to the situation and disadvantages as previously described, despite the existence and use of the system and method of the related patent application. Therefore, there is a need in the art for a system and method which, upon detection of an initial vehicle failure, provides enhanced diagnostic accuracy for the vehicle in transit, and further provides for enhanced anticipatory brokering and resource planning, in order to maximize the likelihood that a needed service will be obtained with minimal perturbation from the vehicle operator's itinerary, and with maximize value.